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Cunning-folk in Early Modern Ireland

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Witchcraft and Magic in Ireland

Part of the book series: Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic ((PHSWM))

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Abstract

Cunning-folk were known by different names all over Europe: in England, wise-man and wise woman, wizards and conjurors; in Denmark, Kloge folk; in Germany, Hexenmeisters; in Scotland, charmers.1 Even in England these multifarious magical practitioners were known by a number of interchangeable names, as Alan Macfarlane has pointed out: ‘“white”, “good” or “unbinding” witches, blessers, wizards, sorcerers; cunning-folk or wise men’.2 The all-embracing term ‘cunning-folk’ is often used to aid comprehension. The beneficial magic of the cunning-person and the harmful witch are inextricably linked and wherever in the world, both in the early modern and modern periods, one finds belief in destructive magic one also finds those dedicated to removing or counteracting it using beneficial magic.3 Cunning-folk provided a range of magical services, such as love magic, fortune telling, thief detection, the finding of hidden treasure and lost or stolen property, and the diagnosis, detection, and cure of harmful witchcraft. They used an array of tools, from palmistry, horoscopes, and astrological charts, to almanacs, divination techniques, and spirit conjuration. In some areas, such as Scotland, France, and Portugal, cunning-folk also provided cures for a number of natural (as opposed to supernatural) diseases afflicting humans and livestock.4

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  1. Ulster University, Coleraine, UK

    Andrew Sneddon (Lecturer in International History)

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© 2015 Andrew Sneddon

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Sneddon, A. (2015). Cunning-folk in Early Modern Ireland. In: Witchcraft and Magic in Ireland. Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137319173_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137319173_4

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-58071-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-31917-3

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